Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Will Blindside Hit Spare Cammalleri Discipline?

From The Montreal Gazette’s Habs Inside/Out blog, this post includes items on the Rangers Derek Boogaard, “Hockey Night in Canada” telecasts and other items from around the N.H.L.

The N.H.L.’s new rule on blindside hits may get a bit of a workout in connection with Mike Cammalleri’s slash on the Islanders’ Nino Niederreiter during Saturday night’s preseason game in Quebec City.

Cammalleri got five for slashing and a game misconduct, and supplemental discipline is certainly a possibility. But what led to his attack was this hit by the Islander rookie (it’s quick and you’ll have to replay it a few times), which is clearly a blindside hit.

The question for the league’s Hockey Operations Department on this one will be whether Niederreiter aimed at Cammalleri’s head. The new rule reads:

“A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or is the principal point of contact is not permitted. There is no provision for a minor penalty under this rule. For a violation of this rule a major penalty shall be assessed. An automatic game misconduct penalty shall be assessed whenever a major penalty is assessed under this rule.”

Looking at the video, a case can be made that contact was shoulder to shoulder from behind. A case can also be made that the head was targeted, even though it wasn’t the principal point of contact.

What's Next

About

Slap Shot, the New York Times hockey blog, reports on the Rangers, the National Hockey League and anything that glides quickly across a frozen surface anywhere on the globe, from the snowy prairies of Saskatchewan to the frigid steppes of Russia and beyond, like, say, Phoenix.

Archive

Recent Posts

Thank you for visiting Slap Shot. This blog’s regular features, including live game analysis, reader discussion, news and notes from Jeff Z. Klein and others, can now be found on the Hockey section front.Read more…

The Devils took Anthony Brodeur, an 18-year-old goalie, with the 208th pick of the 211-pick draft, sending their seventh-round pick in 2015 to the Kings in exchange for the chance to pick Brodeur. Read more…